All right, guys, so here we are. We are in the lesson, Genesis chapter four through five today. It's the spread of sin. And we are, again, we'll start off with the themes. These are the themes that really we cover throughout this chapter. The themes for this lesson, God, man, sin, redemption in the two ways, or you could say the two paths of humanity. And humanity is on either one or the other of these two paths. And again, there is no middle ground, what people want to say, right? I'm kind of no man's land. I'm not really on his side or his side. It's like, hmm. If you're talking like that, then I already know what side you're on, right? All right, let's go through these themes real quick. So we have God. God is gracious. Amen. Providing man with a way to cover his sin and be reconciled to him. Lord, reconciliation means the making of peace between two enemies, okay? Remember, define your terms. Some of these things won't be, we get it, but we've been around for a long time. We've been in school for a long time, right? And it's the school of Christianity. So God is also all-knowing. Seeing the thoughts and intents of the heart as well as acts which are hidden from men, you can't hide anything from God. God communicates with man, praise God he does that. Instructing and warning him. How does God communicate with us? Two ways, right? Two ways. We have general revelation, right? Everything you see around us. Everyone has that. And then the other one is called special revelation. And this is how God communicates specifically to us. General revelation tells us just enough information to know that there is a God. And special revelation tells us how we can get to know that God. All right, so that's how God communicates with us. God is also holy and just. He sets a standard for man and exacts the appropriate judgment for violations or violators. Does he have the right to do that? You bet he does, you bet he does. Man is sinful by birth and by choice. He is born alienated from God and he also deliberately chooses to sin. Man is also answerable to his creator for his sin. He needs cleansing from his sin in order to have a right relationship with God or to have his relationship with God restored. And that would be restored in the sense of Adam and Eve having their relationship restored. Do we come into this world an enemy or in relation with God? Enemy, we're gonna see a couple of key passages later on tonight about that. All right, sin. Sin is the payment, or sin, the payment for sin is death. Through Adam, sin and death passed to all humanity. All right, then we come to redemption. There's an acceptable and unacceptable way to approach God. Those who come to God for forgiveness must demonstrate faith by coming according to the way that He has instructed. And you can underline He, all right? And we'll talk more about that in a little bit. Also, redemption, the acceptable sacrifice required by God was that of an animal offered in faith as a substitute for the sinner and innocent for the guilty. Again, you're just introducing this theme. It will be developed more and more as we go on throughout the whole Old Testament, really the whole New Testament as well. Again, this is called a foreshadow. Right? So it's just casting its shadow on what God's about to do. Okay, we also see the animal sacrifice had no power to permanently cleanse the sinner's guilt. It rather provided a temporary sin covering in anticipation of the full removal of sin by the promised Redeemer. All right, and then the two ways or two paths. Humanity is divided by the way each individual responds to God's authority. Those following the way of Cain reject God in unbelief, replacing his authority with self-will or the will of another. Those following the way of the godly come to God in what? Faith and in submission to His will. So you could say, another way of saying submission to His will is repentance, correct? So again, faith and repentance, two sides of the same coin. Can you have one without the other? Not true faith. If it's true faith, it's gonna always have true repentance behind it. Again, a lot of times they say the Bible just preaches repent, repent, repent, but we know when that repentance comes, if somebody's really gonna repent, turn, then they've already had faith. Does that make sense? So again, they are two sides of the same coin. All right, let's keep going on, you guys. Our introduction. Great introduction here. Adam and Eve, now banished from Eden, suffered the full force of sin's backlash, denied the tree of life. Their existence would be hard and their death sure. But again, we realize that from last lesson, it was an act of mercy that kept Adam and Eve away from the tree of life. Moreover, The alienation they experienced from God and from one another would now be passed on to their children through birth. As parents of the human race, they could not have realized the far-reaching and devastating consequences of their sin on future generations, for Adam and Eve reproduced after their kind. You remember in Genesis chapter one, it said, and they reproduced after their kind, and them after their kind, and whatever kind it was, it reproduced after itself, all right? And that is key. From that time forward, all people would be born spiritually, what? Dead. Separated from God. All children of Adam are born sinful. I don't care how cute your little boy or your little girl is, all right? And a lot of times they were born really, really cute. You're like, how could that thing be sinful? Well, live with it for 24 hours. And you will find out. All right, let's read Romans 5, 12. It's actually in your book right there. It says this. Now go right back up and I want you guys to add a couple verses that I'm going to add to your notes real quick here. So when we're talking about all children of Adam are born sinful, there's two verses that I like to turn to, and they are both in Psalms, so go to Psalm 51.5, this is the first one. Psalm 51.5, and I just wrote it in here, and it says this. It says, David writing this, this Psalm, he says, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, I'd have to define that, that's just another word for sin, right? And in sin, my mother conceived me. It's pretty plain, right? How about one more? How about Psalm 58 verse three? Another Psalm of David. So Psalm 58 three, it says, the wicked are estranged from the womb. These who speak lies go astray from, from when? from birth. Do you have to teach a child the wrong thing? No, you have to work really hard to teach them the right thing. Wrong thing comes automatic for all of us. All right, so those are two good verses, you guys. They belong in that little paragraph next to the introduction. All right, so let's start off with two sons. Let's read Genesis 4, one through two, together, and this is what it says. It says, now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. And she said, I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord. Verse two, again, she gave birth to his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. That's as far as we'll go right there. So here we have the birth of Cain and Abel, right? And this is what Eve said, I've gotten a man child with the help of the Lord. Now, who weaves and fashions each and every one of us in our mother's womb? God does. God does. Psalm 139 for that one, by the way. Psalm 139 is a great, great passage, especially if you're talking about people that are even considering abortion, right? Go there. Take them to there and let God, or you show them what God says about God forming and fashioning, weaving that baby in a mother's womb. So here's what Eve said. I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord. So Adam and Eve obeyed God's command to be fruitful, multiply, and gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. As Eve gave birth to her first son, she recognized that her child had come from God, the source of life. How many of you guys, when you saw your first child being born, you recognized that this was from the Lord, right? Just an absolute miracle, is it not? It is an absolute miracle. So she also would have experienced what? Pain. A stark reminder of God's judgment on her sin. Universal pain in childbirth testifies to the far-reaching consequences of sin. But to those who hope in God, it is also a reminder that final deliverance will come through the one promise by God, Genesis 3.15. And you'd think that if evolution were real, were true, that maybe some part and some, really remote location, women would be able to give birth without pain, right? Kind of makes sense. You'd think like that, but we don't find anything like that, right? You find pain in childbirth the world over. Now we have two sons, remember, their occupations. Now let's look at verses three through 16. So three through 16, it says this. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering. Verse five, but for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desires for you, but you must master it. Cain told Abel's brother, And it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Verse nine, then the Lord said to Cain, where's Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? Answer? I heard somebody say it. Absolutely, yes. We are each other's keepers, all right? He said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you. You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. How far? Tell 16. Verse 13 here. Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is too great to bear. Behold, you have driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. So the Lord said to him, therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain so that no one finding him would slay him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. And that's as far as we'll read right there. Now, did we do their occupations? We didn't, did we? I skipped that. I apologize, you guys. So Cain was a what? Farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. He was a shepherd. Tiller of the grounds, right? Obviously a keeper of flocks. Cain was a tiller of ground, Abel was a shepherd. All right, here we are, you guys, two offerings. We already read our, I was wondering why it wasn't showing up. I just skipped a little section. Okay, so sacrifice is offered. So Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portion. We see that in four verses three and four. So two distinct offerings of Cain and Abel reflect back to Adam and Eve experience in Eden after their sin. Their unsuccessful attempt to cover themselves with fig leaves was corrected by God's own provision of skins from a slain animal, thereby paying the price for sin, which is death. In an act of undeserved love and mercy, God set into motion the concept of, here it is, substitutionary death, an innocent animal sacrificed in place of the guilty pair. Okay, again, we already saw a foreshadow of that in Genesis chapter three, and now it's coming into clearer focus in Genesis chapter four. And as time goes on, it's even become more clear. Now I want you to turn to, keep your finger there in Genesis, and turn to Leviticus 17 11. These are a couple verses that you're gonna wanna keep underlying. These are probably ones you're gonna wanna turn to. It says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. So what is it? Why blood? What does blood represent according to this verse? Life, correct? Is it just good enough if I cut myself and squeeze out a couple drops? No. What's the punishment for sin? Death, every single time. So, that's a great verse. I would definitely turn to that one. Another one is in Hebrews 9.22. Another good one, Hebrews 9.22. So, according to this verse, And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood. Here it is. And without shedding of blood, there is what? No forgiveness. That's how much God hates sin. God hates sin so much that every single one of them deserves death. Now, men and women, you might be thinking, you know what? It's a good thing I'm saved, and it is a good thing that you're saved. But what do you think about when we play around with sin, or we don't take sin serious in our lives? Is that a good thing? Not at all. Not at all. If it costs Jesus Christ his death on the cross, then how dare we play around with it, right? How dare we play around with it? Clearly Cain and Abel would have heard this account from their parents, although not explicitly, this is key here, although not explicitly stated in this narrative, God must have communicated the appropriate way of offering. Because Abel's acceptable offering implied that the brothers had such knowledge, and I would wholeheartedly agree with that. The acceptable sacrifice required by God was that of an animal offered as a substitute for the sinner, an innocent, for the guilty. That's your blink. Because Cain and Abel had inherited the sin from their parents through birth, they needed to offer sacrifices for a sin covering. Psalm 51.5, however, the slain animal had no power to remove sin altogether. It was merely a sin covering temporarily given by God in anticipation of the full removal of sin by the promised Redeemer, or you could say Messiah. You could say Messiah. You guys starting to see how this all fits together? One story, you guys, from beginning to end, and we're just scratching the surface. Sacrifice is offered, and the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering, chapter four, verse four, So Abel's offering from his flocks was acceptable to God because it was a sacrifice which took the life of an innocent, right? Substitute in place of Abel, one guilty of sin. Which would have been a stark reminder for Abel. No doubt he probably had a relationship with an animal, right? Just like we do with our pets. No doubt, especially if that's what you do all day long. You would know your animals really, really well. By coming to God in the way he instructed, Abel demonstrated both recognition of his sin and obedient faith in God's word. Because of his faith, Abel was accepted by God and called righteous, meaning right with God. So when God calls us righteous, that means that we are right with God. And that's what he does in Matthew 23, 35. You guys have the verses right there in Hebrews 11, four. We don't have time to go through all the verses, but that's exactly what God calls him. Calls him righteous, able. But for Cain and his offering, he had what? No regard. Cain brought part of his harvest. Though Cain's offering seemed right in his own eyes, he did not sacrifice in the way God had instructed. Exactly right. Cain's disobedience was evidence of his unbelieving heart. Therefore, God rejected both Cain and his offering. Proverbs 14.12 is right there in the text, I wanted to finish our text there. So Proverbs 14.12 says this, another really good verse. In my book, I have all the ones underlined that I wanna read, right, and I would just encourage you guys to do the same thing, because we probably won't have unlimited time, so you wanna pick them out. And this is what Proverbs 14.12 says. There's a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. The way is death, so we think it's right. Okay. The essential differences between the two offerings were as follows. Number one, you have this in your book. Abel's offering conformed to God's will in that it involved the death of an innocent substitute. Genesis 3.21, Hebrews 12.24. Cain's offering did not. And number two, able to demonstrate obedient faith. Hebrews 11.4, Cain demonstrated unbelief. Unbelief. Hebrews 11.6 says, and without faith, it is impossible to please him. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. Hebrews chapter 11 is called the, known as the hall of faith, right? You have all these men and women who by faith, they did this thing, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. And here it is, Abel, really the top of the list, right? How are you guys? God responded in opposite ways to the two brothers. This reveals that not every way devised by man is acceptable to God. Clearly, God has set a standard by which men are to come to Him. You know, I just read in Berlin, they are building a Christian church, a Muslim mosque, and a Jewish temple all together. They're gonna be one. It's one, they're they're developing this one faith religion. And then I read last night, and I even saw pictures, satellite, I think satellite, maybe not quite satellite, but it was way up high, looking down on also something very similar, because they called it like the Abrahamic faith new structure that they're building. Was it Abu Dhabi or wherever it is? I can't remember. Someplace, I think it's in Saudi Arabia. And so it's like, ah. Again, remember the Abraham Accords? That just, again, sought peace with all these other things. I believe, I really think they're gonna really focus in on the faith of Abraham is really the father of all these faiths, so we can just all get along. And again, you've got your world, the three largest faiths in the entire world coming together. And I think it'd be pretty easy to include the rest of them after that. So you see how this is all shaping up, you guys. But God doesn't accept it that way, and it's very clear from the very beginning. God loves man, yet he is not obligated, that's your next blank, to forgive and forget the actions of those who disregard his way. The sincerity of Cain's effort is not the issue here, but rather his unwillingness to conform to the standard God had appointed, and that's key. John 4, 24, write it down. Write it down in the bottom there or wherever your notes land on the page. Mine are a little different than yours. It says this, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in two things, in spirit and truth. Spirit is your heart. It has to come from the heart, it's the spirit of man, okay? And then the second thing is it has to be in accordance with God's truth. Both are key. Not one can be left out. Again, a lot of people try to do one or the other, right? But whenever you try to do that, that's wrong. You have to have both. Again, sincerity is not the issue here. Sincerity is not the issue. There are billions of sincerely wrong religious people all over this planet, correct? Not just millions, billions. of sincerely wrong religious people all over this planet. And so that's why this is so necessary. Okay, next we have murder of a brother. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Outwardly, Cain professed to worship God by bringing an offering. However, Cain's belligerent response to God's rebuke exposed his true heart. Beneath the pretense of worship was a hidden heart of unbelief. Even though he professed to worship God, when seen and judged by God, Cain reacted in angry hostility. His anger soon escalated to, what? Murder. You guys can see the obvious application, right? What about us, you guys? What about us? Don't turn your page too quickly. Don't turn your page too quickly. How do we respond when someone confronts us in our sin? Here's God confronting Cain, correct, in his sin. And God says, mm-mm-mm, Cain, watch out. And what'd Cain do? Huh, gets angry, gets upset. So, what about us? Do you get angry and upset when somebody comes to you and points out your sin? I see one young man shaking his head vigorously. Listen, that's right, that's in our flesh. but really the proper response should be thank you. Should it not? At least the very minimum you should say is this, thank you very much, I will consider what you're saying and I will pray about it and get back to you. And if that's the only thing you can say, then say that and then bite your lip and walk away until the Lord can really get a hold of your heart. Let me ask you this. Do you think, let's say it wasn't your brother or sister, I know I'm getting off on a tangent a little bit here, but this is important. What if it was God who came to you and said, dear Carrie, this is what's going on in your heart and you need to get a hold of it. You need to master this, you need to repent from this. Do you think we'd respond differently than if a brother or sister came to us? Perhaps. So what if they bring book, chapter, and verse? Is that not God talking to you? So when you come to somebody with book, chapter, and verse, is it not the same thing as when God is coming to us, or God is coming to Cain? Does that make sense? This is God's word, right? It's God's word for us, too. So may it be that way, you guys. Don't get angry when people come to you, because that's your job. That's your job to go to somebody, if they're in sin, in a loving way, kind way, show them their fault. And when somebody comes to you, right, don't act like Cain. Don't act like Cain. So, again, what could Cain, one more thing, where did Cain get his anger from? I have a little sticky note that I, just as I was going through here. Did he get it from the environment that he was in? Think about this. Did he get it from his parents? Right? My dad never spent time with me. Yada, yada, yada. You know, maybe he got it from his peers. Right? The bad society that he grew up in. You know, there was YouTube going on, there was MTV. Now I really dated myself, didn't I? There was all this YouTube that just corrupted him. Keane had nothing. He couldn't blame anybody except himself. His sin came from his own sinful heart. And that's where all of your sin comes from, too. Don't be the person who simply wants to deflect and then try to blame somebody else for it, all right? And I'll get to questions at the end. Okay, it says this. This is God talking to him. Sin is crouching at the door, crouching down at the door and its desires for you, but you must master it. You guys ever feel like that too? Man, it's crouching down, ready to attack us. God saw the intents of Cain's heart and warned him in advance that he was very near to being overwhelmed by sin. This is God's gracious warning. His anger was opening the door for sin to master him, and when given full control, it would end in death. Tragically, Cain refused God's gracious warning. Guys, how many of you guys have been there before? So angry that, ladies, you too, right? But so angry, you just basically see white, you know what I'm saying? It's just white, red-hot anger, and you don't even know what you're saying. Are you still responsible? You bet you are. You bet you are. Cain rose up against Abel's brother and killed him. The New Testament gives further insight into this verse, clarifying the motives of Cain's heart. Here it is in 1 John 3. Cain was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? because his deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. So when Cain brutally murdered his brother, he imitated, that's right, Satan, who was a murderer and liar by nature, according to Jesus in John chapter eight. Cain's anger was not an external and temporary rage which overtook him, but rather the direct result of jealous hatred rooted deep in his heart. And how do we know that? Because God warned him. God warned him. He had time to think about it. Pray about it, turn around, go for a walk, take a shower, jump in a nice perfect lake. Or close to perfect, right? Cain's own heart was the problem. Exhibiting the sin he had inherited from his parents. Absolutely, it's the heart. It's always about the heart. How about this, Mark 7, 21 through 23. Remember that, it's always about the heart. From within, out of the heart of men proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. Again, some of these words, you guys, they're easy for us, but again, I guarantee, I've spoken to a lot of people that are like, what's fornication? Let me tell you what fornication is, right? Or adultery. You know, they just don't know, so again. But ask yourself, folks, do you see some of these things in your own heart? And if so, then repent. If so, then repent. God is interested in the purity of a person's what? Heart, Proverbs 4.23. I got a whole bunch more verses for you. I'm gonna have you guys write them down, but listen to Proverbs 4.23. It says this, Solomon says, watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Watch over your heart with what? Keeping an eye open. Little casual, casual awakeness. It says, with all diligence. You guys pray for your heart. How often do you pray for your heart? I try to pray, I really do, probably multiple times a day for my heart. Lord, purify it, make it right. Make it right before you. How about this? You guys write these down. We don't have time to go through all of them, but you can write these down and spend some real good time on the heart. Mark 7, 14 through 23. Okay, it expands the verse up above a little bit more. 2 Corinthians 11.3. Proverbs 21.2. 2 Timothy 2.22. There's a lot of twos in that one. Acts 8.21. And one more. Joel. 2, 12 and 13. You guys, the Bible speaks about the heart from beginning to end. Again, and all those who worship him must worship in spirit, your heart, and in truth according to his word. All right, here we go. The judgment of Cain Number one, God as communicator, right? This is what God does. He is a communicator, so this is what He said. He comes to Cain. He says, where's Abel, your brother? Cain, what have you done? Was God looking for information? No. Adam and Eve, where are you guys? Was God looking for information? He couldn't find them? Playing hide and seek? No. God was not ignorant of Cain's hidden sin. God's question gave Cain an opportunity to take responsibility for murdering his brother. It is an intrinsic part of God's gracious nature to communicate with man. He gives guidance, sorry, he gives guidance, he warns, he offers opportunity for man to confess and turn from sin. How often? How old are you? Well, multiply that by 365, and at least that many times, right? Cain should have confessed his sin and sought God's mercy. Instead, Cain arrogantly despised God's call, am I my brother's keeper? And hardened his heart. Remember, who else is gonna harden his heart? We're gonna see this later on. Pharaoh's a classic example of somebody who hardens his heart. You guys know people like that too? Maybe you've done that. By God's grace, may it never be so hard, right? Then number two, we see God as Avenger. He says this, and now you are cursed from the ground. You shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. Again, verses four, 11, or chapter four, verses 11 and 12. Untried by any human court, Cain was nevertheless called to justice by one who sees all things. His sentence was tailor-made in that God caused the earth to withhold its strength from a farmer, one dependent upon the earth. Moreover, he was condemned to live in alienation from both God and man. God is a judge. Of all mankind, to him alone will man ultimately answer for his deeds. Yes, that is true. Number three, God as protector. God as protector. Look at this. Here's God's grace and mercy towards Cain. And Cain said, my punishment is too great to bear. And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, lest anyone finding him should slay him. Verses 13 through 15. Rather than requiring his life, God mercifully protected Cain by not allowing him to be killed, even though he was a murderer. God grants life and withholds death as he wills. All right, so far so good, you guys? All right, let's go into two families, okay? So now we get to two families. Verse 16, chapter four, we'll go to verse 24, here it is. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Verse 17, Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. Now, to Enoch was born Erad, and Erad became the father of Mehuajel, whatever. I should ask my wife how you say that first. Mehuajel became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech. Lamech took to himself two wives, and the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock." Verse 21. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. As for Zilla, she also gave birth to Tubalcain. The forger of all implements of bronze and iron and the sister of Tubalcain was Naama. Verse 24, Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to the voice, you wives of Lamech. Give heed to my speech for I have killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech, 77, 77 fold. Sorry, 70, yeah, 77 fold. I was thinking 70 times seven. All right, here we are, you guys. Family of Cain. We'll start with him. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Cain was cursed by God to a life of what? Wandering. Rather than turning from his sin, Cain turned from God. Wanting nothing to do with him or his ways, he settled in Nod, which means aimless wandering. Aimless wandering. Next, the Bible says this, and Cain knew his wife. Cain's wife must have been one of Adam's, who? Daughters. Genesis 5 verse 4. At this early date, the biblical prohibition against incest was not yet in place. As the human race was pure and marriage between siblings would not produce the harmful effects seen later. Okay, and then this is this, and he built a city. Cursed by God to wander, Cain defiantly established a city, naming it after his son Enoch, meaning beginning or initiation. Cain's city marked the beginning of pagan America. Society. Go on, the descendants of Cain and the society they developed were characterized by the following. Here it is. Number one, moral decline. Following his rebellious path, Cain's descendants corrupted God's monogamous design for marriage. Again, God made one man and one woman, and one woman for one man and vice versa, and displayed outspoken disrespect for human life. This rapid spread of moral disintegration came to characterize the Canaanite line. Honestly, I cannot turn on almost a video clip without seeing just the moral decay of just how hard-hearted people have become. Honestly, it's mind-boggling. Even when you don't think something could get worse, it's worse. And yeah, I've seen a number of clips recently. I thought, oh my goodness, it's unreal, unreal. And I'm so glad I've got a mind that just forgets it, pretty much. All right, here it is. Did we go this far yet? Sorry, guys. We're good? Okay, cultural advance. Cultural advance. Cain's descendants nonetheless made significant advancements in the development of husbandry, j-ball, music, ju-ball, and metallurgy to Bocain. Very interesting. Very, very interesting. Interestingly, the modern caveman view of primitive man is not biblical. Again, you guys are, think about teaching this for people that have never heard anything different. Here it is right here, all in the same generation, all these things came about. The work of Tubal Cain being the eighth generation from Adam in both iron and bronze simultaneously eliminates the concept of the widely separated so-called iron and bronze ages. Okay, in spite of apparent prosperity, Cain and his descendants lived as though God did not exist. Their perspective towards life was distinctly earthly and materialistic. Without God, man lives only for what he can see and feel. Gratifying his senses and amassing wealth, but in the end, both he and his treasures will pass away. So true. So very, very true. And then we have Psalm 49, 10 through 12. The fool and the senseless person perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that houses will last forever. They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man, though in honor, does not remain. He is like the beasts that perish. So think about this. Who was it, Cain? called the first city that we know of the name of his son. Here it is. It's exactly right. You know, Marysville, you guys know that, the story of that, Marysville? A guy named it after his daughter, Mary. Marysville. You know, so again, you have, it's everywhere, everywhere. All right, let's read Genesis. This is a little bit longer section, but you guys stick with me, okay? All right, here it is, verse 25. Sorry, back up just a page here. Adam had relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth. And said, God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him. Verse 26, to Seth, to him also a son was born and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Now verse chapter five. This is a book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God, he created them male and female. And he blessed them and named them man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness according to his image and named him Seth. Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. Seth lived 105 years and became the father of Enosh. And Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh. And he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. Enosh lived 90 years and became the father of Kenan. Then Enosh lived 815 years after he became the father of Kenan. And he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enosh were 905 years. Excuse me, and he died. Verse 12, Kenan lived 70 years and became the father of Mehalael. Then Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mehalael, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. Mehalael lived 65 years and became the father of Jared. Then Mehalael lived 830 years, and he became the father of Jared and had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Mehalael were 895 years, and he died. Jared lived 162 years and became the father of Enoch. Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died. Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him in the rapture." It's the first rapture of the church. Not of the church, but of the Bible. There's a lot more like that, all right? It's not the only one. Okay, 25, Methuselah lived 187 years and became the father of Lamech. Then Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah. saying, this one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground, which the Lord has cursed. Then Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah. He had other sons and daughters, so all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. Noah was 500 years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Jaboth. And we'll get to that story next time. Here we are, have we first had the family of Cain, now we have the family of what? Seth. Two lines, right? Two paths. Here we are. God has appointed another offspring in place of Abel. All right, the narrative turns to Adam and Eve who are given another son to replace Abel. The meaning of Seth is appointed one, referring back to the seed of redemption. Genesis 3.15. the promise deliverer who would later come through the line of Seth. Again, we call that the Proto-Evangelium, the very first mentioning of the gospel in Genesis 3.15. Then here it says this, Chapter four, verse 26. After the fall of man in the garden, sin continued to spread throughout the race, affecting the descendants of both Cain and Abel, excuse me, Cain and Seth. Both families grew side by side, but each one followed a different path. The descendants of Cain lived in the world without God and without hope. On the other hand, the descendants of Seth recognized their inherited sinfulness and inability to please God and called out to him for mercy. These were the true worshipers of God. I love it, it says this over and over again, and he had other sons and daughters. It's almost like when God said, and he made the stars also, right? How many stars also was that? There's about 100 billion stars in our galaxy. And the scientists now say that there are about 100 billion galaxies in our universe that they can see. And that's probably the approximate 100 billion stars in each one times 100 billion. That's a lot. And he calls them all by name, right? And oh, by the way, and he made the stars also. This phrase repeated with each consecutive generation shows that mankind flourished on earth, flourished on earth. Adam lived 930 years and he died. Chapter 5, verse 5. It's a good verse to keep in mind, especially when you're talking to people about this. You know, again, I usually ask people, so when it says, in the day that you eat of it, you'll surely die, did Adam and Eve partake on his 930th birthday, the day that he died? Because that's what it says here. You know what I'm saying? That's when he died, when he was 930 years old, in 5, verse 5. And they usually scratch their head like, I don't know what that means. Right? And so it's like, okay, how'd he die then? He died spiritually. He died spiritually on that day. He had to leave God's presence. All right. So individual lifespans were exceptionally long. All right? Adam lived 930 years. Jared lived, Jared, excuse me, Jared, 963 years. And Methuselah, the oldest man recorded, lived for? 969. This remarkable longevity greatly aided the propagation of the race. By Noah's day, there may have been millions of people alive. Nonetheless, the phrase, and he died, used eight times in chapter five alone, graphically affirms the truth of God's word to Adam, you shall surely die, in 2.17. Once again, death is the payment for sin which had spread throughout society. The one exception was what? Enoch. I love this, Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. God took him. Stark contrast to and he died, God overruled the power of death for Enoch, taking him directly to where? Heaven, heaven. Who also went to heaven next that we know of? Fiery chariot, Elijah, right? So, to walk with God, Oh, is this where we're at, you guys? Sorry. There we are, yep. To walk with God is to live a life in harmony with God's revealed will. It implies friendship, agreement, and a common direction. And then it says this, he called his name Noah. This one shall give us rest from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed. In Hebrew, the name Noah sounds similar to the word used for rest. Lamech may have looked to his son as the one promised of God who would remove the curse of sin. Genesis 3.15. Life must have been grim for the father of Noah to long for relief in such a way. Okay, very likely. Now we have two ways. Two ways. So far so good, you guys? You guys following along with me? Doing good on time. Okay, the moral absolute displayed in the biblical account of the two offerings flies in the face of modern pluralistic thinking. Typically, man assumes that he is free to choose his, what? His own way of coming to God. But God has never given man that prerogative. Rather, God has clearly laid out the acceptable way of worship. In God's world, there is right and there is wrong. He is the final authority. Satan asserted his will against the Creator and was cast out of heaven. Likewise, the first couple discovered that God's command could not be ignored without accountability. There are two distinct ways in which people respond to God's authority, and each person is answerable to God for the path he follows. Now again, when Satan sinned, God cast him out of heaven. You can read about that in Revelation 13 to, again, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28. We talked about that, all right? He took about a third of the stars, a third of the angels with him. They became demons. But notice also that same thing happened to Adam and Eve. When they sinned, they were kicked out of God's presence. Once again, this time it was on earth. It was something they had to do. They had to leave. There's no sin there. Way of Cain. Woe to them, they have gone in the way of Cain, according to Jude 11. Cain is an example of a man who outwardly professes to worship God, yet inwardly rebels against his authority. You guys ever meet somebody like that? Oh, I love Jesus. And then you wanna hold them accountable to, hey, this is what God's word says. And what do they do? Don't do it. Come up with an excuse, reason not to do it, right? And we're all experts in that. But not for the true believer. It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be that way. When Cain's attempts to worship were rejected, he turned his back on the true God and ultimately replaced him with a counterfeit of his own making. Cain symbolically leads the way of all who reject God. Those in the way of Cain follow their own authority. All right, and they do. They declare allegiance to the world and its pleasures, and like Cain, they are marked by, here it is, you can underline these, pride, independence, and an unbelieving heart. No. These are all too good to pass up. So, we're gonna read Psalm 1 in just a little bit, so I'm gonna skip that one, but go to Proverbs 16, 25. Proverbs 16, 25. Psalm 1 is classic. It says this, there's a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. I guarantee most every person in every false religion, they think they're on the right path. Don't they? And then another one is Matthew 7, 13, 14. Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said this. He said, enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are what? Many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it. Guys, these aren't my words, these are the Lord's words. It's not us who make this up, this is what God says. So, and then there's the way of the godly. It says, how blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways, amen? It says this, Abel is an example of a man who came to God in the way that he instructed, that is God instructed. His obedience demonstrated a loving and trusting heart toward his creator. Those in the way of the godly declare allegiance to God. Though sinful and needy, they are marked by humble submission and obedient faith. Did you catch that? What are they marked by? Humble submission and obedient faith. You guys, let me ask you this. Does that describe you right now? Are you a humble servant of the Most High King? And is your faith marked by obedience? I'm not talking perfection. There's not a single one of us that are perfect. But as soon as you see that sin in your life, that you're quick to say, I was proud, honey, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Does that make sense? Psalm 1. Let's read the whole thing. This is just a shortened version there. Go to Psalm 1 with me. This is really we're done, except for the questions here. How many of you guys love Psalm 1? It's really the doorway into the Psalter or the Book of Psalms. Another way of saying Book of Psalms. It says this, Psalm 1, look carefully here and think of Cain and Abel, okay, as you go through this. Think of yourself maybe, I don't know. It says, how blessed is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. How blessed is that guy? He doesn't do these things that he just mentioned, these three things. He says this, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates how long? Day and night. And here's the promise, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers. That guy's gonna prosper. I don't care what the weather's like, he's gonna prosper. And again, think of this Psalm, put it not in the state of Washington, right? You need to put this in Israel where it was written, most likely, right? Where David was. And so he saw streams and really the only trees that were probably planted were those planted by water, you know what I'm saying? Because it was a dry, desert-like place. Verse four says, the wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment or sinners in the assembly of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Amen. Folks, I hope you're on the path of the righteous and not the wicked. I really, really do. And if you find yourself on the way of the path, on the way of the wicked, then you can change that today. You don't have to go climb a mountain or do some religious feat. You need to humble yourself. Ask the Lord for forgiveness. Humble yourself. Ask the Lord for forgiveness and humble yourself and go ask anybody else for forgiveness that you've sinned against. All right? And start doing the right things. All right, again, you guys, feel free to recap your lessons with these questions that we find at the very end. You can either ask your own questions, right, or ask them for questions, or use these. So really, so why did God have regard for Abel in his offering, but not Cain in his offering? We know the answer to that. That's a key question, by the way. What elements did God determine were necessary for an acceptable sin covering? Where do you know that? Was Abel's sacrifice a temporary sin covering or did it remove sin altogether? What's the answer to that? It was temporary. It was a foreshadow. Number four, is all sincere worship acceptable to God? Sincere worship. What? God wouldn't accept sincere worship? How, if you wanna come to Him and worship Him, how do you need to do it? In spirit or with sincerity, with your heart. And according to John 4, 24, both are necessary. I don't, I have no reason to think that Cain was not sincere. I think he was sincere. I think he sincerely brought what he wanted to, not what God wanted him to. How did God show mercy to Cain? What was the progression of Cain's sin? And why is Seth significant in the biblical record? What were the differences between the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth? Number nine is also key. What are the two ways people respond to God's authority? The way of Cain, the way of Seth. How did the first parents' sin affect their children? How does sin affect us today? Good questions, huh? Bunch of good questions. All right, guys, some books that I want to recommend, and you guys will probably know why I'm recommending them. So, again, we talked a lot about the heart today. You guys, probably one of the best books that deals with the heart is Gospel Treason. It's probably one of the best books that I know that deals with the heart, all right? And I have these on slides, so here they are. So, Gospel Treason by Brad Bigney. How many of you guys have read this book? All right, a number of you guys, if you haven't read it, really, this is an awesome book, and I cannot recommend enough. Hopefully you guys don't get tired of me recommending books to you guys, too. All right, I'm not trying to sell books. Like I said, we don't make money on our books. Right, we round up, but that's about it. It's the next dollar. Okay, uprooting anger is the next one. Robert D. Jones, and there's a number of books, Keeping Your Cool, what are the other ones? You mentioned them to me. The Heart of Anger. All right, some are for children, too, by the way, guys. And I would encourage you guys, hey, if you have an angry teen or an angry young person, then go through that book with them. But first, don't think you can teach something if you yourself don't own it. In other words, if you're an angry dad or an angry mom, then maybe you need to read this first, right? And then you'll be in a place to better help your son or your daughter or somebody else. So that one's uprooting anger. And then another one, I've mentioned this one already, but I couldn't get beyond this one. I kept thinking like, man, you know, some of the questions that are gonna come up with, where did Cain get his wife, right? Was there a subsequent creation that God made? And so, and these are some of the questions that are in this book, all right? And again, you can do the answers book, one through four, but they are just such good short answers. Tim, when you agree with that? Such good, well-researched, excellent answers. I just think like, you guys, listen, if you're gonna teach this course because there's enough time in this, you need to have at least read through the first one, all right? Because it's really, really very, very good, or at least have it right there at your fingertips.